Discovering Sarah Thorp Heald

My presentation discusses the research project that I completed during the summer of 2024 on central Minnesotan author and painter Sarah Thorp Heald. Heald worked as Secretary and Curator of the Crow Wing County Historical Society for fifteen years and created paintings that were were sent throughout the midwest. In this project, I documented Heald’s work as a historian and author in the early twentieth century in Crow Wing County, and I completed the first ever inventory of her known paintings. Over the span of three months, I worked in the Archives of the Crow Wing County Historical Society and read Heald’s manuscripts and museum minutes. During this time, I also photographed all of Heald’s works. While carrying out this project, I learned about new paintings that Heald had created and started reaching out to institutions like libraries and historical societies across Minnesota to find new information about her work. During the latter part of the summer, I began to work on a website to compile this information on a publicly accessible platform. In this presentation, I will talk about the process of research, revision, and fieldwork. In addition, I will share the artistic and scholarly achievements of Sarah Thorp Heald and how I discovered her story through fragmented scrapbooks and family histories. More information can be found at: https://sites.google.com/view/sarahthorpheald